Art into words
“The great blue wave curls in from the left, its toppling white crest a mass of foam tentacles that claw the air”: from a terrific Word of Mouth episode, “Audio description: putting art into words.”
Las Meninas y Nancy y Sluggo
Like it says.
Velázquez and Tootsie Rolls
Ernie Bushmiller’s favorite artist and stock.
Be wise
A 1930s poster.
Aircut
George Bodmer’s Oscar’s Day: “You shouldn’t be able to cut the air.”
The Scream?
A Time cover by Edel Rodriguez.
“About something”
Today’s Zippy: Zippy, Claude Funston, Griffy, a counterman, and Edward Hopper.
Douglas Ewart in New York (and in The New York Times)
The New York Times reports on a night of art and performance.
Alex Katz, scared silly
If I were teaching a college writing class, I’d show this interview to my students.
Valentine’s Day
A heart amulet.
Cubist pencil
“Round, having a novel finish of small squares in assorted colors,” says the advertisement. From 1914.
No pictures
A perfect example of administrative overreaction fueled by fear and ignorance.
Tom Phillips (1937–2022)
I am the happy possessor of the second edition of A Humument. Looking at any page is an inspiration.
Still life with wife
I woke up first and made a sketch.
Lydia Ricci’s art
“Tiny sculptures made from the scraps of daily existence.”
George Booth (1926–2022)
The New Yorker cartoonist was ninety-six.
Guernica wear
In today’s Zippy, Griffy notes that museums sell Picasso everything — mousepads, T-shirtscoffee mugs. “What’s next?” he wonders. “Guernica bedsheets and party dresses??” I wouldn’t have believed it. But you can find a Guernica skirt, complete with Picasso signatures along the waistband, front and back, at Etsy.
A pinned note
A note pinned to a wall in Alex Katz’s studio.
Raymond Briggs (1934–2022)
Writer and illustrator of The Snowman (1978), among many other books.
Artle
Wordle for art.
“On Point”
In Salt Lake City, the debut of “On Point,” a fifteen-foot pencil sculpture made from an old utility pole.
“Better than the one that I’m in”
Donald Evans, talking to the Paris Review about his postage-stamp art (creating stamps from imaginary countries).
Space hotel
The future future looks so much like the future past.
Donald Evans’s stamps
“Watercolor stamps of imaginary countries”: Donald Evans: Philatelic Counter, an exhibit at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery.
Recently updated
Who owns Henry Darger? There’s a delay.
Valentine’s Day
An Egyptian heart amulet.
Who owns Henry Darger?
A legal battle between Henry Darger’s landlords and some distant Darger relatives, who never knew him and now claim the rights to his work.
Sardine art
Behold: images from a facsimile edition of Glynn Boyd-Harte’s Les Sardines à l’huille, described by the publisher as “one of the outstanding auto-lithographed books of the 20th century.”
Skullface
Pareidolia. My first thought was “Cookie Monster.” But the skull shape is so clear, and Halloween is approaching.
Artist’s conception
Fabric at the precipice.